


Not a Baby

by foolyoulove



Series: Domestic Bliss and Detours [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Comfort, Family, Fluff, Gen, JARVIS is a good bro, Kid Fic, Nightmares, Parenthood, Pepperony - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 19:45:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/828128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foolyoulove/pseuds/foolyoulove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She knew she shouldn't have hidden under her covers after bedtime with a tablet watching news clips from the Battle for New York, but some little jerk at school had told her Daddy almost died on that day, and she had to see for herself if it was true."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not a Baby

**Author's Note:**

> I HAD MORE FLUFF TO WRITE. Sorry not sorry.  
> All previous stories in this series were written before IM3 came out, and so there are a couple major plot points that don't necessarily fit. Therefore, I'm generally disregarding the events of IM3 in this 'verse, but am borrowing the idea that Tony had to work through some serious anxiety issues after New York. And also the giant comic-relief bunny.

Reporters' voices frantically narrated the events unfolding around Stark Tower—aliens pouring from the sky, explosions, lightning, crumbling buildings—when a red-and-gold figure entered the scene.

_“Billionaire Tony Stark's Iron Man is here—”_  
 _“Stark has just_ entered the portal _with what appeared to be some kind of missile, this is an incredible turn of events—”_  
 _“The portal seems to be closing, but we have not yet seen Stark come back through on this side—”_  
 _“The alien attackers are falling and the portal has completely disappeared—”_  
 _“Ladies and gentlemen, I think we may have just witnessed Iron Man sacrifice his life for the people of New York—”_

Audrey woke with a start, rubbed her eyes, and then rolled over to look at her alarm clock, which told her it was almost midnight. She knew she shouldn't have hidden under her covers after bedtime with a tablet watching news clips from the Battle for New York, but some little jerk at school had told her that Daddy almost died on that day, and she had to see for herself if it was true. And then she had to go and dream that he actually _had_ died.

“Mr. JARVIS? Are my parents sleeping?” Mr. JARVIS had told her before that she didn't need to address him as “Mr.,” but her mom told her it was polite to address her elders that way. And when Audrey had questioned the AI about it once, he had conceded, _“My existence does indeed predate yours, Miss Stark.”_ So, she won that round.

“Your mother is asleep in the master bedroom, yes. Your father is awake and working downstairs. Would you like me to call one or both of them, Miss?”

“It's okay. But could you turn some lights on in the hallway, please?”

“Certainly.” 

Audrey wasn't _afraid of the dark_ , of course; turning on the lights made things a little less scary sometimes, was all. She tossed back the covers and climbed out of bed, stepping into her slippers—brown, floppy-eared bunnies, and Mommy still wouldn't tell her why Daddy laughed so hard when she'd given them to her—on the way out of her bedroom. She felt guilty going to wake up her mom, but she didn't want her dad to feel sad because she had a nightmare about him.

When she got to the door, her mom was actually already sitting up in bed with a light on. “What's the matter, sweetie? Can't sleep?”

“I had a bad dream,” she said to her feet, suddenly feeling embarrassed about not being able to deal with a little nightmare by herself. She was supposed to be more grown up than that—she was a _kindergartener_ , after all. And she'd be in third grade already if Mom didn't insist that she went to school the normal way.

“How about a snuggle?”

“I'm not a baby, _Mother_.”

“I know that, _Audrey_ , but sometimes even grown-ups like to snuggle after a bad dream.”

She shrugged and shuffled over to the bed. She kicked off her slippers before climbing up into her mother's waiting arms and settling against her side with a huff. 

“Do you want to tell me about it?” 

Audrey knew that her mom could tell how bothered she was and would get her to talk eventually, so she decided to just come out with it. “I dreamed about... the big fight with the aliens by the Tower.” Her mom stiffened a little bit, but Audrey continued. “The good guys still won—Grampsicle and the Big Guy and everybody who was supposed to be there—except Daddy. He got stuck in outer space and the reporters said he wouldn't ever come back. And that's when I woke up.” They sat in silence for a few moments before her mom sighed heavily. “Are you mad, Mommy?”

“No, no, I'm not mad,” she replied, quickly. “That was... a really scary day, and it used to be really hard for us to talk about, especially for your dad. We're okay now, and it's okay if you want to ask us questions about it. I just wasn't expecting you to know so much detail already. How did you find out?”

Audrey picked at the blanket. “YouTube.”

Her mom tutted. “JARVIS, you and Mr. Stark need to have a conversation in the morning about appropriate content filtering.”

JARVIS barely had time to acknowledge before Audrey jumped back in. “But does that mean there's other stuff you don't want me to see, too? Why?”

“Because you're only five years old and still innocent and sweet and there are bad things about the world that we would rather you didn't know yet.”

Audrey scrunched her face and looked up at her. “I'm almost five-and-a-half, you know.” Her mom laughed a little bit and got that _'You're so much like your father'_ look on her face. “And besides, if I don't know what's out there, how am I supposed to help you and Dad fight the bad stuff?”

“You already do, sweetie. Every day.” Audrey had never fought _anybody_ before, so she guessed this was one of those things she'd understand better when she was older. “Are you ready to try to go back to sleep? It's late.”

“I guess. I'm sorry I woke you up.”

“You shouldn't feel sorry for wanting some company after a nightmare. And JARVIS actually woke me up for you.”

“Thanks Mr. JARVIS, but did you snitch me to Daddy, too?”

“I believe 'snitch' is rather too pejorative, Miss. I would have alerted your father if it appeared your well-being had been in question, but you are in good hands.”

“ 'Pejorative'... does that mean, like, well, 'mean?' ”

“To some extent, but no offense was taken, Miss Stark.” He sounded amused, and Audrey beamed—she liked when she could make the AI seem more human than he already did. And she liked when he taught her new words.

“And _there's_ a smile,” her mom said before kissing the top of her head. “Come on, you can stay here tonight,” she said, settling back against her pillows. “Lights on or off?”

“Can we do halfway?”

“That sounds like a good idea.” 

The room dimmed, and Audrey nestled under the covers, lulled to sleep by her mother rubbing circles on her back.

~ ~ ~ ~

“How'd we end up with a munchkin in our bed?” Audrey woke when her dad came in, but she kept her eyes closed so she could eavesdrop on their hushed conversation.

“Bad dream.”

He sighed. “I was hoping that wouldn't be hereditary. What about?” 

“We'll talk about it tomorrow. Come to bed, Tony.”

“I can sleep somewhere else if this is supposed to be a girls-only cuddle party.”

“No, she'll definitely be glad if you're here when she wakes up.”

“I think I can make that happen.” She felt a momentary draft from the covers being lifted; Daddy leaned over her to give Mommy a kiss and probably mutter something lovey before settling behind Audrey. He wrapped one of his arms across her and Mommy's middles as he whispered into her hair, “Love you so much, baby girl.”

“I love you back.” Then she winced for forgetting she wasn't supposed to be awake.

“Oh, not pretending to be asleep anymore?”

“I'm asleep! I mean... I _was_ asleep. Daddyyy,” she whined. “How could you tell?”

“Tony, don't rile her up now. Just because you can function on inhuman amounts of sleep doesn't mean your five year old can.”

“She's almost five-and-a-half, Pepper.”

Audrey giggled; she could almost hear her mom's eyes roll as her dad just chuckled and squeezed them tighter. She decided as she drifted back to sleep a few minutes later that the only thing better than snuggling with Mommy or Daddy was snuggling with Mommy _and_ Daddy, and that maybe she wasn't in such a hurry to grow up, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so when I was working on the previous stories in this series, I never thought I'd work up the nerve to write kidfic because having to write an original character who has a _personality_ is... intimidating. But then again, I never thought I'd write babyfic in the first place, so.
> 
> Anyway, a lot kidfics in various fandoms tend to focus on the more popular / well-known / etc male character's relationship with the kid(s), treating the mom like an outsider or even an antagonist. I even ended up making my own babyfic kind of Tony-centric... so I wanted to give Pepper a starring role here, because I think she'd be a rad mom.


End file.
